An ingrown nail is also known as an ingrown toenail and this is a common nail disease. An ingrown toenail usually affects your big toe. In medical terms, this is also known as unguis incarnatus and Onychocryptosis. It is a painful condition in which the toenail grows into the soft flesh of that toe in such a way that it cuts into either one or both sides of the nail bed or paronychium. Ingrown nails can be painful, as the nail will start cutting into the nail beds with the onset of time. Such growth can also give rise to many infections, bringing about further complications along with the pain. Proper care must be taken to avoid such growth, and to set right any abnormal growth that may occur.
Causes of Ingrown Nails
One of the main causes of this kind of nail disease is the use of unsuitable footwear. This may be due to the daily use of shoes, which provide very little space for the toes. Wearing extremely tight stockings that apply pressure on the top and sides of the toes can also cause ingrown nails.
Sometimes even the damp and humid conditions within the enclosed shoes soften the nail plates and swell the epididymis keratin, and this increases the convex arch of the toenail permanently. Sometimes improper nail cutting and shaping may lead the nail to grow into the nail bed, thereby causing pain to the affected person.
Improper Care of Nails
If the nail is not cared for properly (this includes carelessly cutting the nail), ingrown nails can occur. Ingrown toenails can occur because the nail has been cut too short, rounded off at the tip or peeled off at the edges instead of being cut straight.
- Ill fitting shoes: Shoes that are not right, some of which are extremely narrow thereby providing very little space to the toe can cause ingrown nails. This may cause the nail to curl and then bore into the skin.
- Physical Trauma: Stubbing the toenail, dropping things on the toe can cause trauma to the nail plate or toe. This results in the flesh getting injured and causes the nail to grow irregularly into the flesh.
- Original Defects: Sometimes improper growth also happens due to the abnormal shape of the nails, which may be due to a kind of nail deformity due to some disease or genetic defects.
- Infections: Bacterial infection may also cause ingrown toenails.
- Hyperhidrosis: Excessive sweating or hyperhidrosis may cause this kind of disease and the individual may have difficulty walking due to the extreme pain caused by the infection.
Complications of Ingrown Toenails
Ingrown toenails should be taken seriously and you must immediately get the disease treated by a physician. If left untreated, it may result in serious bone infections.
- Inflammation of the toenail: An ingrown toenail can cause inflammation and this causes thickening of the nail skin fold. The protruding piece of nail keeps on digging into the nail which results in extreme pain to the affected person.
- Diabetic Complications: If a person is suffering from diabetes then this can lead to further complications. The nerve supply and circulation of the feet can be disrupted in diabetic patients suffering from ingrown toenail. Sometimes complications may force the doctors to conduct a surgery in order to avoid gangrene or in extreme cases amputate the affected part.
- Other complications: In order to repair this medical condition, sometimes the lateral nail plate along with the lateral matricectomy needs to be removed. This may lead to infection of the nail bed or a regrowth of a nail spicule. Other infections like candida, pseudomonas and staphylococcus can also take place in the foot skin.
After ingrown toenail removal, in most cases infection may still continue which leads to redness, swelling and pain. This needs to be further evaluated by the physician.
Treatment of Ingrown Toenails
If the ingrown toenail is detected at an early stage then surgery can be avoided and some effective home care tips like soaking the toe in lukewarm water, wearing proper shoes and frequently cleaning the nail can be employed to cure this infection. A doctor may recommend using a splint so that the skin is protected from the sharp corner of the nail.
Cotton wicks, plastic strips, plastic tubes on the side of the nail and glue based substances are some types of splints which a doctor may advise a patient to use.
The doctor may also remove the extra tissue growth around the inflamed skin area so that it heals faster. A physician may administer oral antibiotics to treat ingrown toenails. In extreme cases, surgery has to be performed which involves the removal of the embedded nail away from the toe. Sometimes at least one thirds of the nail may have to be removed surgically.
Healing takes a lot of time especially after surgery and you must take a lot of precautions so that no infections surface after a toenail operation.
